In addition to rules about frequent testing, social distancing and event capacity, the Playbook also outlines a policy that will allow game participants to avoid the 14-day quarantine rule for entering Japan as long as they fill out a schedule listing their plans for that time period and download a tracking app. Athletes must sign a promise that they will comply with the rules in the Playbook, whether they are vaccinated or not....

Her second goal was to medal at the Olympics. It looked like that dream would go unfulfilled after she failed to qualify for any of the event finals at the Summer Games. However, after Simone Biles withdrew from the vault finals, Skinner was given a second chance. She replaced Biles in the vault competition as the top alternate and had a chance to compete for a medal. She delivered in that opportunity....

MORE: Which golfers opted out of Olympics? | Team USA in action It is my aim to see a capybara before leaving Rio. They probably will disgust me, but fears should be faced and, hey, we slow down to watch car accidents, right? “There are definitely some places we go in the world, and wildlife is prevalent, and you see some different stuff than you’re used to seeing in the United States,” said Team USA golfer Rickie Fowler....

You thought I was going to lend my fingers to the acres of criticism of the pairs judging, but the worst thing about Monday night’s highway robbery of Canadians David Pelletier and Jamie Sale was how NBC’s announcers botched the coverage of the first “controversy” of this year’s Olympic Games. To recap, Russian skaters Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze did a good job, but Sikharulidze stumbled coming out of a double axel (a double axel!...

Here’s how it’s going so far. This week’s luge events ended with a delightful surprise: a silver and a bronze in the men’s two-man. But the United States got squat on the single’s side, where hopes were sky high. Although Adam Heidt ended up fourth for the men and Becky Wilczak finished fifth for the women, both best-ever U.S. marks, our top slider, Tony Bershoof rammed a wall during his second run and was out of medal contention before day two of racing even began....

The first events began on Wednesday, Feb. 2, while the closing ceremony will take place on Sunday, Feb. 20. Here is the full broadcast schedule for the 2022 Olympic Games and how you can watch today’s live Olympic action in the U.S. and Canada. MORE: Watch the 2022 Olympics live with fuboTV (free trial) Olympic schedule today Sunday, Feb. 20 How to watch the Olympics in USA TV channels: NBC, USA, CNBC Live streams: Peacock, NBCOlympics....

The president has prematurely claimed victory and alleged voter fraud on a number of occasions over the past few days, without supplying evidence. On election night he said: “This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.” The next day he escalated his claims of election fraud in a series of tweets, despite backlash from some supporters....

The new survey shows that U.S. abortions plunged from a high of 1,608,600 in 1990 to 1,529,000 in 1992. According to study authors Stanley Henshaw and Jennifer Van Vort of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a small part of the decline can be attributed to reduced access to the procedure, especially in rural areas. Currently 84 percent of U.S. counties have no doctor or facility providing abortions. Other possible contributions to the lower rate:...

For every fresh lead in this case, though, new questions arise. The world now has a clearer picture of how Frankel’s scheme–in which he allegedly stole money he managed for insurance companies–touched the lives of everyone from Vatican officials (they lent credibility to his fake charity) to Walter Cronkite (he was listed as a board member of the charity, even though he declined to join). More details have also emerged about his life inside his heavily guarded compound in Greenwich, Conn....

Today Gartner is in danger of being fired as president of NBC News, in essence for living down to his low expectations for the medium in which he works. It’s not that Gartner is directly responsible for “Dateline NBC’s” now famous rigged GM crash video; no one alleges that either he or the anchors who apologized for the error, Jane Pauley and Stone Phillips, knew anything about it before the video was broadcast....

Today’s constitutionally mandated ritual of electors delivering their state’s vote has drawn much attention. But with Trump continuing to cast doubt on last month’s election result, many are hoping this arcane event will close off most of the last remaining paths available to Trump to dispute his loss. However, a meeting of Congress to be held on January 6 in order to count and certify the electoral vote will provide Trump’s allies in the House with a final opportunity to challenge a Biden victory....

Two different rallies were planned for Saturday near the downtown Denver Civic Center, according to The Denver Post. One is a “Patriot Rally,” organized in opposition to “BLM, Antifa and related Marxist associations [who] are assaulting everything we love and cherish about this country,” according to a tweet by organizer John Tiegen. The rally was organized by the group Patriot Muster, according to KCNC-TV. Though the Patriot Rally was held in the Civic Center Amphitheater, outside was a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive,” which bills itself as fighting against “racism, nationalism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, the police, immigration-enforcement, imperialism and all oppression and exploitation,” according to the event’s Facebook page....

Telling whites they are black is not a task for the tactless; and Shirlee Haizlip makes every effort to be kind. After getting her quarry on the line, she identifies herself as a cousin – long-lost, she explains, as a result of a “family secret.” After they have chatted long enough to achieve a certain intimacy, Haizlip divulges her news: that their great-grandfather was once a slave. Invariably the reaction is the same....

Too much, as it turns out. At the end of this most dramatic of weeks, there was to be no final-day miracle for Liverpool. They did their bit, ending their Premier League campaign with a scruffy 2-0 victory over Wolves at Anfield. The favour they needed from Brighton, though, didn’t arrive. Manchester City’s 4-1 win at the AmEx Stadium ensures Pep Guardiola’s side will retain their title. Huge congratulations must go to the men from the Etihad, who got over the line having won 14 games in a row, and 18 of their last 19....

Lane is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder in Floyd’s death, which sparked a wave of nationwide protests. Lane appeared to hold Floyd’s legs down in the now-viral video of Floyd’s death, while former officer Derek Chauvin applied pressure to Floyd’s neck with his knee during an arrest attempt. Lane is expected to appear in court again in June, at which time Gray said he will attempt to have the charges against his client dismissed....

The San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation field office told Newsweek in an emailed statement Saturday that the officer killed after a person in vehicle driving by the two officers started firing at them. “FBI San Francisco and the Oakland Police Department are investigating a shooting that occurred at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building…At approximately 9:45 p.m. on Friday, May 29, 2020, a vehicle approached the building. An individual inside the vehicle began firing gunshots at contract security officers for the Federal Protective Service of the Department of Homeland Security,” the FBI stated....

This time, that will be SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, where he’ll watch the L.A. Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals and then tap out some observations for The Detroit News. In doing so, Green will extend an unbreakable streak: He’ll become the only newspaper reporter of the 338 credentialed journalists to document Super Bowl I in 1967 who will have attended and covered all 56 of them. “I’m the last one,” he says with a grin....

This marks the third time Brown has been fired in the last four years and second time the Cavaliers have relieved him of his duties. The Lakers also fired Brown five games into his second season with the team. MORE: Coaching candidates | D’Antoni resigns from Lakers | Kerr near deal with Knicks When Brown returned to Cleveland, there were smiles all around, from Brown himself and team owner Dan Gilbert....

Titled “Few & Under Fire: LGBTQ School Board Members in the U.S.,” the report presents results from the first nationwide survey assessing the number of school board members who are openly part of the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ Victory Institute, a national organization focused on electing leaders within the LGBTQ community, conducted its survey among known LGBTQ school board members in April. The report comes amid an elevated awareness about threats levied at school board members across the country during the coronavirus pandemic....